Wild Rift reportedly powers to $1 billion revenue with China release

League of Legends: Wild Rift, Riot’s mobile version of the immensely successful PC MOBA title, has reached a significant achievement by crossing $1 billion in lifetime revenue, according to estimates by data.ai. The data company added that the game has joined 101 other games and 26 apps in the prestigious $1 billion club, which includes notable games like PUBG Mobile, Mobile Legends, Clash of Clans, and more.

Wild Rift was released back in open beta in SEA in October 2020. This followed phased releases in Europe and the Middle East until December. The game, however, was released in North and South America later, on March 29, 2021, to be precise. Wild Rift was a very anticipated title, especially in the West which didn’t have a leading mobile MOBA after the end of Vainglory and the failure of Arena of Valor to capture the market.

Image Credits: Riot Games

Wild Rift is the 5th most played mobile MOBA in 2023

According to the report by data.ai, Wild Rift had the fifth most active users behind MLBB, Honor of Kings, Arena of Valor, and Pokemon UNITE in the first half of 2023. However, in terms of lifetime downloads and revenue, the game ranks fourth, behind the same games but ahead of Pokemon UNITE.

Additionally, the game was the third highest-grossing mobile MOBA in the first half of 2023, securing $188 million in global revenue. The main factor powering Wild Rift to the top is its China release. The game was only released in the lucrative Chinese market in October 2021 after being approved in the country.

Data.ai intelligence shows that of $188 million, nearly $141 million came from China alone. The report also added that the highest downloads were from the Asian country as well.

Tough road ahead

Image Credits: Riot Games

While Wild Rift has recorded good numbers in 2023, most of them can be credited to China alone. This is a worrisome trend for the MOBA title which was once supposed to be the next big thing for mobile games.

With Pokemon UNITE rising in popularity, MLBB coming to China while MOONTON makes a push to grow the game worldwide, and the impending global release of Honor of Kings, the road ahead for Wild Rift will be a tough one.

Additionally, one of the main reasons for the continued success of League of Legends PC has been its vibrant esports ecosystem. Riot attempted to create a similar ecosystem for Wild Rift with a world championship in 2022. However, it decided the pull the plug on esports in the West and only replaced it with a single league in Asia, which has already been recording abysmal viewership numbers.

Nonetheless, Riot has been bringing constant updates and optimizations to Wild Rift making it a delight to play. It remains to be seen how the game evolves in the future.